Last Saturday one of the Invy crew DanP was team leader in organising a Gipps Sport iniative for a Beach Festival for People with a Disability. He asked a few of the IWC regulars to come and be part of the event and run a Come and Try Windsurfing activity.

DanP put together a great event and he had 175 people with a disability attend. They where spread around Anderson Inlet doing a range of beach activities including kayaking and Windsurfing at the Angling Club.

For me I think I learnt more than the people with a disability as I started to wonder who had the disability. You come to these events with some pre conceived ideas but the participants soon blew those out of the water. In the end they are kids and young adults who just want to have some fun and fun they had. We got them wet learning to windsurf and took them for a ride on a windsurfer. Smiles and high fives everywhere.

So what has this article got to do with the title. Speaking with DanP afterwards " 80% of the 175 people with a disability that attended on Saturday have never been to a beach before" What we take for granted - hey.

Thanks to Mick, Pete, Simon, Rob and Kato who helped out on the windsurfing

Well done Gipps Sport and DanP for running a great day and helping to educate those people WITHOUT a disability as well.

Its a sobering thought...sometimes we sit on the beach and complain that its only 10 knots!....
It was a great experience for me- sharing the stoke with enthusiastic students.
Victories weren't measured in kilometres, but in metres and centimetres, there were plenty of wipe outs, and a few tense moments when one student came up under the sail but the thing that got me was the tenacity and eagerness to have a crack.
I think the other thing that blew me away was seeing the parents faces when their child nailed a skill- the smiles, cheers (and hoots and hollers from the coaches) lit up the Inlet!.

Thanks guys

It was an awesome day. For those of you who dont know, the 3rd of December is International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD). IDPwD is a United Nations sanctioned day that aims to promote an understanding of people with disability and encourage support for their dignity, rights and well-being. The day also seeks to increase awareness of the benefits of the integration of people with disability in every aspect of life. IDPwD brings together individuals, businesses, community organisations, and Governments from every corner of the world to celebrate and acknowledge the contributions, skills and achievements of people with disability.

In my role as Access for All Abilities manager in Gippsland, I find, develop, promote and support programs and opportunities for people with a disability in sport & recreation. The beach festival we held was to increase awareness of some of the barriers people with a disability face when accessing the beach, trying to encourage the councils to consider Universal Design principles in their foreshore planning which promotes access for all, and finally to provide these people in our community the opportunity to try a range of sports that they may never have had the opportunity before.

Again, it was an awesome day, if you get a spare minute or so have a look at some of the photos: www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.124569970990664.23445.100003129860355&type=3

Thanks to all the IWC crew that helped make this day a success. On the wind sports front as well, thanks to RPS for supplying their beginner gear to me for the windsurfing, Go Kite for their support & staff to run the kiting activities, and Yachting Victoria for supplying the Access dingys to enable us to run sailability.

Cheers
Dan

Good work guys!

Remembering back to that thread "Is windsurfing dying?", if we as sailors and crew put back in like DanP, the IWC crew and supporters who attended this event, imagine the new directions for growth that are possible....
Cheers all, that was so rewarding and fun.

Not to understate the work done by many others, but Dan - I have to say I was really impressed by your hard word, energy and dedication that day. You must have been exhausted by the end it.

My role was small (and at least I got to sail!), but it was a priviledge to work with those kids (and adults). Their laughter and smiling faces made it all worth while.

Well done guys, sounds like it was a great day! I wish I had made it down.